The Hypnotist's Lair
by Marielle
Summary: Jack/Annie. A trip to Mexico may be Annie's last -- unless Jack can solve the mystery and save her. Chapters 3 & 4 up now, r&r while they're hot! ;)
1. Name That Tune

My first So Weird fanfic, hope it's fun to read. :) 

  


_Dedicated to Kari_

  
  
**The Hypnotist's Lair**

  
CHAPTER 1: Name That Tune

  
"Change of plans, guys," Molly said, walking onto the bus to find the three kids slouched down one early morning after a late night in a hotel. Not expecting an answer from the three sleepy zombies in front of her, she finished her thoughts. "Instead of Northern California like I originally said, we've been invited to play in Mexico!" She didn't bother waiting for an excited cheer from the group, but turned around to start up the bus. Jack, forcing himself up from a rather comfortable position he had curled up against the window, moved over to talk to his mom. 

"Mexico? Why?" Jack was a little intrigued that his mom would just change a tour date like that. 

"Well, it's somewhere different! Somewhere we've never been before. It'll be a lot of fun, and plus it'll take about the same amount of time to get there from where we are that it would take to get to Northern California." Jack shrugged and crawled back over to his position by the window, closing his eyes to try to get just a little more sleep. Molly stopped the bus at a red light and turned back to look at them. Carey had his usual mouth-open deep sleep, and Annie looked like she was falling in and out of consciousness. Molly smiled happily and drove on, flipping on the radio to keep herself awake as she entered onto the highway. 

  
"Annie?" Jack was lightly tapping on Annie's hotel room door. He checked his watch: 9:30. She wouldn't be asleep yet. He was sure he heard her guitar coming from her room. Finally after a good while, the door opened a crack. 

"Jack?" Annie had a puzzled and bewildered look on her face. "What do you want?" 

"I heard your guitar from our room and—"

"Oh did I wake you guys up? I'm sorry…" Annie looked a little embarrassed so Jack quickly jumped in.

"No no no, I just heard your song and it sounded like… something I've heard before." He shoved his hands in his pockets. He felt like an idiot asking her this – not only because of the song's origin in his head but also because he was asking HER. True she was pretty and smart and he got to travel with her around the country – an opportunity most guys would jump at – but no one could understand their relationship. Ever since Fi left, Jack had hated the idea of Annie trying to be her replacement. Sure Fi could have outrageous ideas about strange stuff, but she was his sister, and this girl thought she could take her place. He always wanted to make it clear she would never be Fi to his family, and she should keep her nose out of his business. A little childish and immature, but it was how he felt. Even so, asking her about this song he heard was the last thing he wanted to do.

"Oh, I doubt you know it," Annie said, shaking her head a little and looking down. 

"Why's that?" Jack asked, faking defensiveness. "Because you don't think I know enough about—"

"Oh just stop it, Jack" Annie cut him off again with a smile, and then she got serious again. "You wouldn't know it because I'm not even sure what it is." 

"What do you mean you don't know what it is? How's that possible?" Jack thought of the time Fi was learning to play the guitar and ended up playing on of their dad's songs. He knew this wasn't like that.

"I was just writing something and it came to me. Somehow I know I've heard it before, but I can't place it," Annie said, shaking her head.

"Okay you guys, time for bed," Molly said leaving Carey and Jack's room and heading for the doorway that Jack and Annie were talking in. "Scoot, I'm tired, we still have a long drive ahead of us tomorrow." Reluctantly Jack let the door close and returned to his room. He tried to sleep, but he kept sitting up thinking he could hear Annie's song through the walls inbetween Carey's snoring. Finally he drifted off to sleep with dreams of a past that seemed more distant than ever… 

  
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	2. Hola, Mexico

I apologize for the corniness of the song... I'm a songwriter myself and I know that it's not the greatest, but I felt it suited the stories' needs. lol enjoy... 

  


CHAPTER 2: Hola, Mexico

  
"Jack. Jack, yoohoo," Carey was standing over Jack's bed trying to wake him up. As soon as the idea popped into his head, he started shaking the bed. This did the trick and soon Jack's eyes opened and he sat up with a start, looking confused and disoriented. "You all right, man? You didn't even hear the alarm clock." Carey walked back and sat on the edge of his bed, grabbing his watch off the nightstand.

"Yeah, I just had a nightmare. You know, it's been a really long time since I dreamt about my dad." Jack turned his gaze downward in thought. "Wonder what brought that on," he said, shrugging it off and standing up to go get dressed. 

Just as the two boys were double checking to make sure they go everything they needed from the hotel room, there was a knock at the door. Carey walked over to answer it, and Annie stood there with a few Styrofoam containers. 

"Breakfast," she said cheerfully, offsetting the obvious tiredness she was feeling. "Complements of Molly." Carey took the containers and he and Jack finished up the food just as Molly knocked on the door and told them it was time to leave. 

  
About half an hour into their day's journey they were pretty much settled in for the long ride. Jack was staring out the window, contemplating his dream, Annie was plucking around on her guitar and talking to Molly, and Carey was listening to his headphones. Jack kept listening to Annie to play the tune he heard last night, but she didn't. They hadn't spoken since the night before, and Jack wanted to ask her to play the song again so he could clearly hear it, but he wanted to wait until she wasn't talking to his mom. 

About an hour later they had stopped for refreshments and a bathroom break. Jack and Annie got off the bus and stretched, but Molly and Carey had gone in to get snacks and stuff. Jack decided now was as good a time as ever to try to find out more about his obsession with her song. Entering back onto the bus, Annie went to a comfortable seat leaning against the window, and put her feet up on the seat, drawing her knees up in front of her. He walked over and sat by her. 

"Annie?" She looked up from her book, and seeing he had come and sat by her just to talk to her, she realized it might be important so she bookmarked it again and put it down. 

"What's up?" She asked in her usual cheerful tone. 

"I was just wondering if you've written any more of that song," Jack said slowly.

"A little, not very much… but besides, Jack, I don't think I did write it. I think it's something I've always known, and somehow forgot it. Something from my childhood or something," Annie explained quietly. 

"Really? I swear I've heard it before… see, I think..." Jack wasn't sure he wanted to talk about it. Fi would have understood completely, but this was Annie. Jack pushed his anger deep down inside about Annie being Fi's replacement and tried to ignore it. He didn't know how she'd react, but he did know that she had asked Molly why Jack seldom talked about it. "I think it's something my… my dad used to sing to me." Jack turned his gaze downward to the floor. 

"Oh…" Annie didn't really know what to say. He looked up at her, and to his surprise there was an understanding look in her eyes, which was really encouraging to him. Seeing she didn't really have anything else to say, he decided to speak. 

"Well, I... it's okay. I mean, I just wondered about it," he said, standing up just in time for Molly and Carey to enter back on the bus and hand them some stuff they got in the store. "Thanks, Annie," he said, turning to her as she took the bookmark out again. He managed a good sized smile at her. 

"No problem, Jack," Annie said with a little shrug and a smile as she went back to reading. Jack decided not to say anything else about it and try to forget it. He fell asleep for about a half an hour, but started dreaming about his dad again and promptly woke up. He knew it was going to be a while before he could shake this off. 

  
Annie, Carey, and Jack had all taken up a game of cards in the bus's overhead light when their pile slid onto the floor in disarray as the bus came to a stop. Molly turned around with her usual tired but satisfied and cheerful face. 

"Here we are!" She said as the kids got up to make their way out. "Cool!" Carey gave the first aloud reaction to their hotel. Even though it was dark out, you could clearly see the building was much different than their usual hotel. It was one floor, and had very Mexican style architecture. A short Mexican in a brown suit came out to greet them. 

"Hola! You must be Molly Phillips!" The man said in a thick Spanish accent, and extended his hand to Molly. Jack and Carey made eye contact briefly. Jack raised his eyebrows at Carey, who answered with a smile. 

"Hello Mr. Rodriguez, it's a pleasure to meet you," she said, accepting his hand. He greeted the three kids.

"You must be tired, let me show you to your rooms," he said as two other guys in jeans and t-shirts came out and started taking their luggage from the underneath compartment on the bus. 

  
About 10 pm they were settled into their rooms. Carey had gone to check out the "cool Mexican stuff" they had in this hotel. Jack had rolled his eyes at Carey when he asked if Jack wanted to come too. Jack had stayed back to work on his math homework for his summer school class he took by mail. He heard a knock at the door, and assuming it was just Carey forgetting his key, he opened it without even looking, and turned to go back in. 

"Jack?" Annie said, pushing the door open about half way and poking her head in. Jack spun around, not expecting Annie at all. 

"Oh, hey, what's up?" He managed to spit out instead of "what do you want?"

"Can I, come in?" She asked slowly. 

"Yeah, sure," he welcomed her in with his hand, and she entered, holding in her other hand that had been hidden, her guitar. 

"I remembered some more of the song, and wondered if you wanted to hear it," she said, standing in the middle of the room. 

"Oh, well…" He was a little reluctant, thinking it could be too much to handle, with all the dreams he'd been having, but he gave in, telling himself if could be just when he needed. "I guess. Sure." He cringed at how unexcited he sounded, as opposed to how excited he was when he first knocked on her door the night before. "Have a seat," he said as Annie took a seat on the bed that he and Carey were sharing.

She sat there for a few seconds with her guitar as Jack stood with his hands in his pockets, a little too neglectant to sit next to her. She began picking the strings with her fingers softly, and in a whisper soft voice started singing the words. 

  
_Go to sleep, my child   
Sleep well, my love  
For in the morning you will become your greatest dreams.  
A thousand stories could never tell of  
The chances the morning holds for you.   
In the morning you will become all your dreams,  
But tonight you belong to me,  
So go to sleep now, my child,  
Sleep well, my love. _

  
Somewhere in the middle of the song as memories began to fill Jack's mind, he had found it too hard to stand there in front of her. He was sitting next to Annie, his chin resting in his hands, his stare fixed somewhere off into space, somewhere behind the wall. She let the guitar ring with the last chord and sat there also in silence. Finally she broke the silence with something Jack didn't think she would say.

"Jack, I know you think that I don't know or don't understand how you feel to have lost your dad, but I haven't seen my dad for four years now. My mom and dad are divorced, and it's not that I don't see him 'cause she hates him, but I lived with her in South America for a long time, and now I'm here with you… and Molly and Carey, and I don't know when I'll see him again. He used to sing that song to me at night when I was little, and it…" Annie stopped to swallow and blink to keep from crying. "… it brings back a lot of memories for me, too." 

Jack gained the courage to look up at her, having blinked most of the tears back from his eyes without letting more than a few escape, hopefully unnoticed. 

"Thank you," he said softly, not really knowing what else to say. Annie moved her guitar to sit upright on the floor and leaned against the bed, and she turned to hug Jack. He tensed up at first, but it only took a few seconds for him to welcome it and hug her back. They sat there for a little bit in silence again, each dwelling in their own thoughts, before Annie stood up slowly. 

"Good night, Jack," she said quietly, taking her guitar to leave. 

"Night, Annie." She turned her head around to smile a little before exiting the room. 

There was a knock at the door about a minute later, and Jack got up, expecting it to be Annie again. He opened the door to face a sheepishly smiling Carey. 

"Forgot my key," he said with a little laugh as he slid in to get past Jack, who was moving rather slowly. He stood there and closed the door, realizing for the first time how aware he was of the feeling he had when Annie hugged him. He was trying not to forget the feeling of her arms around him, and how she felt in his. 

"Stupid," he told himself as he laid awake in the dark. "Stupid..." But that night he had no nightmares…

  
- - - - - 

  
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	3. The Cuernavaca Stalker

Thanks to Harsh girl, Anne Bowman, Kelly&Grandma, Kari, and the anonymous poster, for your awesome reviews. Sorry it took so long, here's some more for ya :) Anne: as to not being an Annie fan -- my friends Kari and Kelly got me into this show, and they weren't annie fans either at first, and they missed Fi really bad, but now they're into Annie too.. but don't worry, there will be Fi!! :) She's the greatest. Anyways, on w/ the story! 

  


CHAPTER 3: The Cuernavaca Stalker

  
_Buzz buzz._ "Aaarrggh…" Jack rolled over, swinging his arm around to hit the button on the alarm clock. "Not already!" 

Carey sat up and stretched his arms straight up, then crossed them behind his head. He yawned and made a little groaning noise, then laid back down and threw the pillow over his head. Jack just laid there with his eyes half open like they had been all night long. He covered his face with his hands and shook his head, not being able to believe it could be morning already. They laid there for an immeasurable amount of time before hearing a knock at the door. Neither moved, waiting for the other to get it. 

"Jack? Carey? Are you guys up?" Molly was talking through the door. Jack used all his strength to get up out of bed and start getting dressed. 

"Give us a few minutes here, mom!" He called back to answer her. 

After some coaxing, Jack managed to get Carey out of bed, and in no time they were out in the hall with Molly and Annie, ready for a day of exploring their way around Cuernavaca, Mexico, about an hour and a half south of Mexico City. They saw some interesting sights, Molly took some pictures, and Carey managed not to break anything in any of the gift shops they went in. They had just finished eating at a restaurant with very Mexican cuisine, and were walking again at about 1 pm. Annie walked along fanning herself with a map she'd gotten, and Carey was wiping sweat off his forehead. 

"Hey, look, mountain biking, dude we should so go!" Carey pointed to a billboard for "Advent Mexican Mountain Biking."

"In this heat? I don't think so. Find a billboard for a pool and I'm there," Jack replied. 

"Swimming in Mexican water?" Annie turned to look at Jack, who was wiping sweat off his forehead as well. But it wasn't him she was noticing. A guy was walking behind them, a little in the distance, but Annie made distinct eye contact with him. She suddenly realized that he'd been behind them ever since – before lunch. 

"Well it's not like I'd be drinking it," Jack said, scrunching his forehead after seeing Annie's puzzled expression. "What?"

"I think that guy's following us," she said, pointing a little. Jack turned to look, and the guy somehow managed to drop back behind some other people in a crowd.

"What guy?" Jack asked, looking back. Carey wasn't really paying that much attention to the guy so much as how stupid Jack looked when Molly suddenly stopped and Jack, staring behind him, walked right into her. Carey cracked up as Molly regained her balance. 

"Jack! Be careful."

"Sorry, Mom, I was—"

"Annie, what are you talking about, honey? Who's following us?" Molly interrupted.

"That guy, the one with the brown shirt on," Annie said, having stopped now and was frantically searching the crowd for him with her eyes. The four of them watched as the crowd passed and then some. Annie was squinting, trying to see if he was hiding somewhere. 

"Honey, I don't see anyone…" Molly said, putting her hand on Annie's shoulder. 

"I swear I saw – well, I guess… I was wrong," Annie said with a sigh and a confused expression. 

"It's probably just the heat," Molly said putting her arm around her and starting off again. 

"Oh no, Annie's hallucinating again," Carey said playfully. 

"Lets get back to our room, in the air conditioning and relax for a while, okay?" Molly said. Annie turned and agreed reluctantly. 

Jack stayed behind for a couple seconds, staring back. In the distance he thought he saw a familiar face from the past, but it turned around and walked the other way down the street, off into the shadows of the overhanging Mexican roofs. Jack got a feeling in his stomach and a memory he hadn't thought of in a long time. 

  
Later that night Molly was doing her show, and Annie had decided to stay behind. She had gotten badly sunburned from their walk earlier, being so pale, and didn't feel much like going anywhere. Molly objected to Annie being by herself in the hotel, so Jack agreed to stay. Annie didn't want to keep Jack cooped up or anything, and she didn't think she needed protection, but Jack said he had homework to work on anyway. 

Annie sighed and sat down on the bed after putting the remote control down on top of the TV. All Mexican channels, and she didn't speak Spanish, so they weren't of much use. Molly did most of the talking for the group, however Jack could spout out a few words for himself from time to time. She could hear nothing next door, so she assumed he was busy on homework. Looking around the room, her eyes fell over her laptop case stashed behind the table. Now would be the perfect time to try out those power and phone adapters she bought. 

After taking about half an hour to figure out how to hook everything in and troubleshooting on the occasional problem, she felt a sense of comfort when she saw Fi's name pop up on her buddy list.

  
Annie: Hi Fi, what's up? 

Rockerbaby: Not much, how's Mexico?

Annie: All right, hot down here. How's Clu?

Rockerbaby: Doing okay, just got off the phone with him. 

Annie: Tell him I said hi next time. 

Rockerbaby. Will do. So what's up?

Annie: While we were walking today I saw someone following us.

I tried to point him out to Jack, he was gone. 

Rockerbaby: Gone?

Annie: It was like he just disappeared.

Do you think it could be dangerous?

Rockerbaby: What did he look like?

Annie: Tall, thin, black hair, mustache, wearing a long, brown coat. 

Annie: What difference would that make?

Annie: Fi? Are you there?

  
At the other end of the line, Fi was too worried to know what to type. 

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	4. Peril at the Pyramids

Thanks for my annonymous reviewers, here's another chapter :) 

  


Chapter 4: Peril at the Pyramids

Fi sat and tried to remember a man from her past. She needed to get distinctive features from Annie to find out for sure. If he was who she thought he was, Jack would be in for a lot of trouble. She tried to think of something remarkable about him, anything at all to help Annie give a good description. Suddenly it dawned on her – whitish eyes. Not completely white, just light in color. 

Rockerbaby: What did his eyes look like?  
Annie: He was too far, couldn't see them.  
Rockerbaby: Keep your distance if you see him again. Definitely tell Jack.   
Annie: Why tell Jack?  
Rockerbaby: Too much to explain. Gotta go now, getting in trouble, school night. Talk to you again soon.  
Annie: Night, Fi. 

As the girls shut down their computers, each was dwelling on what this meant. Fi knew Annie wouldn't take long to give her the necessary information, because if it was indeed who Fi thought it could be, he would show up again.

Annie was just waiting for her computer to finish shutting down when the silence was broken by a knock at the door connecting their rooms. 

"Coming," she said almost too quietly to echo through the door. She closed her laptop and shoved it back in it's case. Stashed it back under the table and jumped over to the door to unlock it. 

"Hey," Jack said, standing in the small space between the doors, scratching his head. "Hope I didn't wake you."

"No, I was on my computer," Annie said, gesturing to her laptop with her thumb above her shoulder, waiting for a response from Jack. 

"Oh, cool. Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to go get some food from the restaurant next door, they're open till midnight," he said hopefully, shoving his hands in his pockets. Not exactly the response she expected after hearing his sister's name mentioned. A stomach growled and Annie almost didn't realize it was her own. 

"Sure, let me get ready," she said, shutting the door. She figured now would be as good a time as ever to tell him about what Fi had said. 

  
Annie and Jack finished ordering their food and were waiting for the waitress to bring it when Annie decided to try to talk to Jack about this mysterious man.

"I talked to Fi tonight," Annie tried to be casual.

"Really? Cool, you should have told me, I would have said hi to her," Jack took a drink of his soda.

"Well, I told her about the guy we saw, and she said—" She tried to hurry but sure enough, Jack cut her off. 

"Whoa whoa, we? You were the one who saw him."

"Well, I told her I saw him, and she said I should tell you."

"Why me? She knows I don't believe in all that weird junk," Jack said as the waitress came over with their food. 

"That's what I was wondering. She asked me what he looked like, and I told her that he was tall, thin, black hair, mustache, and a long brown coat." Annie started into her food and was beginning to feel stupid about all this, but the more she thought about it, the more it worried her. 

"Well, that describes a lot of people, Annie." Leave it to Jack to try to reason it out.

"She asked me what color eyes he had, but I told her I couldn't see them, and she told me to tell you." Annie took another bite of her food. 

"You girls and your conspiracy theories. Listen, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. Probably was going the same way as us, and--" This time Annie cut him off. 

"He followed us before lunch, and he was still behind us afterwards. How is that possible if he wasn't following us?" She wished for once he'd just believe her, even if it seemed a little weird. 

"Well if he shows up again, maybe you can point him out to me and I'll be convinced. But for now, just try and forget about it, okay?" Annie had no choice but to agree. They went back to the hotel and she put on her pajamas, put some lotion on for her sunburn and crawled into bed. She tried to sleep, but she kept wondering what Fi had meant, and why Jack wouldn't understand. When Molly and Carey came back she barely heard them come in, and she drifted off into a dreamless sleep. 

  
The next morning, Molly presented the three kids with a choice for their activities for the day. 

"This brochure says there's an "artisan village" called Tepoztlan, and some ancient pyramids Xochicalco. You guys decide, I'll go either place." Molly handed the brochure to Jack, who looked it over and passed it to Annie. Annie passed it to Carey, and after a little arguing, they decided the pyramids would be much cooler.

  
Molly got them bus tickets for a reasonable price, because it was much too far to walk to. Annie was surprised they were the only people on the bus. 

"Molly, how come there's no other passengers on here?" 

Annie turned right to look at Molly sitting next to her.

"Yeah that does seem kinda weird, Mrs. P," Carey chimed in. 

"Probably just not the right season for many tourists," Molly said with a shrug.

In about twenty minutes they were there. As the bus came to a half in front of a fence about a mile away from what were barely visible pyramids in the distance, a man who was standing at the gate started walking up to them as they got off.

"Hello folks, I'm terribly sorry but we are closed for the day, they're doing a little bit of excavating inside, there were a couple of unstable places they had to fix, I'm afraid we'll be closed till next week." Annie heard this as she took the last step off the bus, and then looked up at the man who was talking to them. Seeing who it was, she immediately stepped back up on the step.

  
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